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dangermousieOtherwise known as 2010 Dangermousie KDrama Awards - Come one, come all!
Very personal, you have been warned. I don’t like to claim that my opinion is paramount but I am of course very fond of it. As I am sure you know by now if you read this livejournal with any regularity, I adore period dramas, not too fond of fluffy dramas etc. Any drama that aired even part of its run in 2010 is eligible.
FAVORITE DRAMA: Chuno/Slave Hunters. In a year which had a number of kdramas I liked, Chuno stands head-and-shoulders over its competitors – brutal, gritty, and grim, this is the first period drama I’ve seen which actually gets down in the dirt with societal outcasts (slaves, courtesans, slave hunters) instead of drooling over royalty. Gorgeously shot, fiercely acted, emotionally hypnotic, and with many things to say about society and honor and survival and prejudice, this is the one drama from 2010 that entered my All Time Top 10 Kdramas list. If you haven’t seen this 24-episode marvel, what are you waiting for?
ALSO-RANS: Secret Garden, Giant, Pick the Stars, Prosecutor Princess, Will It Snow on Christmas, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Gloria, Baker King
MOST DISAPPOINTING DRAMA: Road N. 1 – I was so excited for a drama about Korean War with A-list cast but this was insanely written and awfully acted. I’ve never seen anything quite this bad.
WORST DRAMA: RN1. See above.
DRAMA WHICH WASTED ITS CAST THE MOST: A Man Called God. You get Song Il Gook, Han Chae Young and the rest and you do something that is badly directed, awfully written, and asks from its actors all the subtlety of a pantomime show. Shame on you!
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE: Jang Hyuk, Chuno. His tormented, intense, coarse, brutal and brutalized Daegil was heart and soul of Chuno. I cried and laughed and longed with him even as I was appalled by him and terrified of him as well. Daegil may not have been my favorite character in the drama (that honor goes to Tae Ha) but he was the most unforgettable and the best acted.
WORST MALE PERFORMANCE: So Ji Sub, RN1. I have always found SJS very uneven (excellent in Misa, dead-eyed and wooden in Bali), but his one-note, over the top yet flat performance in RN1 seems to have come from another actor entirely. In a drama full of awful acting he stands out. Unless he meant to play a hyper tree, in which case, congrats!
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Go Hyun Jung, Daemul. The powerhouse actress delivers yet another wonderful performance as the smart and tough yet human and vulnerable first female President of Korea.
WORST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Kim Haneul, RN1. See what I said about SJS and apply here.
BEST MALE NEWCOMER – Micky Yoochun, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. I was terrified to check out SKKS because we all know how well idols-turned-actors do – I’ve seen the horror that was Heading to the Ground. But Yoochun embodied his role perfectly – I loved him to bits, laughing with and crying with his character. I hope he has many more dramas to come in his pipeline.
Runner Up: Joo Won, Baker King. Playing the most complex and controversial main character in BK, Joo Won with his charisma and chops blew me away. Imagine my shock when I learned this was his very first drama!
BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER –Jung So Min - Bad Guy, Playful Kiss. Playing two very different characters – the spoiled and flawed rich girl in BG and the sweet and dim student in PK, JSM came out of nowhere but she blew me away. She lives and breathes her characters and was the best thing about PK. I hope she has a long and successful career ahead of her.
COOLEST MALE CHARACTER: Song Tae Ha, Chuno. My fate was written a long time ago – since I wrote a love letter to Spartacus (19th century Italian novel version) when I was eight, I have been a goner for the honorable rebel. And oh – how could I not fall madly and irrevocably in love with Song Tae Ha? Formerly an uber-aristocratic general and best friend of the Crown Prince and now wrongly punished government slave, Tae Ha is both larger than life and so very human – he is a man who is intensely honorable and yet who struggles with his very ingrained notions of Confusian rightness. He is unbroken from all the horrors inflicted on him but only barely so – his pride is hanging by shreds even if his conscience is intact. Actually Tae Ha has replaced Damduk of Legend as my favorite kdrama character. This is all the more impressive because while I have always found Oh Ji Ho a good-looking man (I am not blind!), I have always viewed him as pleasant scenery. I don’t know what happened during Chuno but that scenery came alive and blew me away with his fierce yet vulnerable performance.
COOLEST FEMALE CHARACTER: Yoon Hee, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Smart, mistrustful, tough, loyal, amazing. There are not enough cool adjectives to describe Yoon Hee who not only cross-dresses to get into Korea’s institute of higher learning (risking death and dishonor) but is one of the best scholars out there and a woman with nerves of steel.
Runner-up: Lee Ji Ah, Athena. Hardcore, kickass spy played by LJA? Sign me up.
CHARACTER WHO SHOULD HAVE HIS OWN SPIN-OFF – Jae Shin, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Come on – I want to watch him fight the King’s enemies as a palace guard and fall for the cool rebel chick.
CHARACTER WHO SHOULD HAVE HER OWN SPIN-OFF – Chosun, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. A famous courtesan with deadly fighting skills, messed up family history and a potential OTP with the bad guy’s son? Oh hell, I wish I was watching this already.
FAVORITE SECONDARY CHARACTER - Tae Sung (Kim Jae Wook), Bad Guy. The tormented, brittle Tae Sung was THE character in BG for me. KJW quietly but efficiently stole the show from everyone else and every episode I wished more and more he was the protagonist. I wanted to heal him and make everything better even as I wanted to break every bone in his body. I wanted to look away from watching someone’s personal hell and yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Tae Sung is one of my Top 3 male characters this year (others being Tae Ha from Chuno and Sun Joon from SKKS) so he is in excellent company.
Runner-up: the tough, kind, hurt, uncertain, hopeless, amazing Dong Ah, Gloria.
FAVORITE OTP: Song Tae Ha/Un Nyun, Chuno. I never even expected to ship them, yet they became my drama couple of the year. The aristocratic warrior turned slave and a brutalized slavewoman turned aristocratic bride just swept me off my feet. I spent the first two episodes shipping Un Nyun with Daegil, I confess, but then Tae Ha and Un Nyun met and I found myself chanting at the screen “love him, love him, love him.” Luckily for me, she did. They were and are and always will be perfection.
I love them enough to post this shippy MV, even:
Runners-up: Sun Joon/Yoon Hee, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. A smart, unworldly, studious scholar with a spine of steel and a tough, clever, principled young woman who cross-dressed to get into University? And they become best friends? And he believes he is harboring feelings for a man while she agonizes about his sudden coldness? YES PLS.
Also, both OTPs of Gloria. I can’t breathe watching them sometimes.
FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP: Min Woo/Miju, Giant. By the end of this 60 ep drama I was watching solely for them. She is the hero’s tough yet sunny little sister, he is the shades-of-grey, screwed-up, ruthless son of her family’s biggest enemy . Neither knows of the family connection and they fall in love. He gives her confidence and she gives him happiness. He saves her life and she redeems him. They are perfect.
FAVORITE UNCANON OTP: Tae Sung/Jae In, Bad Guy. Oh, how I shipped the fragile rich boy and the wounded golddigger with the heart of gold. The actors had insane chemistry and the pairing made so much sense. But ultimately the maker went insane and it was not to be.
FAVORITE UNEXPECTED OTP: Ma Jun/Yu Kyung, Baker King. Who would have ever thought I’d ship hero’s poor and fierce first love and his rival/unbrother? But they became ‘the’ OTP of Baker King for me – dysfunctional, hot, and somehow right for each other as they could allow the other to see and understand the darkness in them. Their hope and happiness at the end made me sniffly.
MOST ROMANTIC DRAMA: Tie (1) Will It Snow At Christmas – the whole thing is one long cinematic swoon. Tie (2) Secret Garden. Ditto.
FUNNIEST DRAMA: Secret Garden. I laugh out loud with this drama. I rest my case.
CHARACTER YOU'D TAKE HOME TO MOTHER: Kang Suk, Gloria. Smart, (by now) well-adjusted, loyal, awesome. There are no words for how much I love problem-solver Kang Suk. OK, his family is evil and/or insane, but it can’t be helped.
BEST SECONDARY GUY - Jae Shin, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Never clingy or evil or martyr-like, Jae Shin the secret rebel is all around cool. (Did I mention my thing for rebels? I did).
BEST VILLAIN: Chul Woong, Chuno. Tae Ha’s former second-in-command and friend and now ruthless nemesis, Lee Jong Hyuk is mesmerizing in the role as a man who does great evil at the bidding of his demons, trying to prove his superiority to Tae Ha and Tae Ha’s ‘fakeness’ but is ripping his own soul more and more with every action. At once repellent and pitiable monster (with the subtext of being romantically obsessed with Tae Ha), you may hate Chul Woong, but you can’t tear your eyes away.
Runner up: Ji Suk, Gloria. While feeling he’s the wronged martyr here, the man kills and torments and hurts our leads in every way possible. His slimy look is enough to give me hives at his mere appearance by now.
NICEST HERO: Lee Sun Joon, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Principled, smart, genuinely kind, willing to sacrifice himself to save his friend and do what is right, LSJ is just amazing.
ANGSTIEST/MOST TORTURED HERO: Song Tae Ha, Chuno. I don’t even want to go into all the horrific things that happened to him. If I were in his place, I would have either offed myself or, more likely, have been sitting somewhere rocking myself as I went insane. The one scene in all of Chuno I, angst junkie supreme, can’t bear to rewatch involves him, enough said.
BEST ROMANTIC SCENE: Five-way tie, I am afraid: (1) Min Woo and Miju make love after she’s been nursing him from the horrible beating his father gave him, Giant (2) Daegil believes he is seeing Un Nyun again in ep 2, Chuno (3) Tae Ha banaging wounded Un Nyun’s shoulder and holding her hand when she, unconsciously, is seeking his, Chuno; (4) Dong Ah helps Yoon Seo to throw up her liquor and piggybacks her as they whisper they want this to be forever, Gloria (5) Sun Joon confesses his love to Yoon Hee in the marketplace even though he believes she is a man, Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
BEST KISS: Personal Taste - "game over" in ep 10. A wildly uneven drama but when it was on, it was on! Runner-up: Coffee House train kiss – oh, it sizzled.
WORST KISS: Oh My Lady. No chemistry between the leads whatsoever.
MOST UNDERRATED DRAMA: Prosecutor Princess. Funny, romantic, twisty, with great chemistry between the leads. More people needed to see this.
MOST OVERRATED DRAMA: Cinderella Unni. Good first four eps, complete static idiocy for the other 16. Someone needed to put this drama out of its misery yet its ratings kept rising. Don’t even get me started on its sin of getting but then utterly wasting an actor of Chun Jung Myung’ intensity.
BIGGEST PLEASANT SURPRISE: Pick the Stars. I had no expectations at all and thought it would be a boring family drama but what a sweet, funny, romantic delight it turned out to be.
BIGGEST UNPLEASANT SURPRISE: Road N. 1 – I was so excited for a Korean War epic with such cast. Instead it turned out to be the worst kdrama I’ve ever seen – cartoonishly acted and written by a lunatic.
DRAMA WHICH FELL APART THE MOST: Bad Guy – such a perfect gem the first 2/3, then it’s as if the monkeys took over the typing of the script. Still worth checking out though. Runner up: Mary Stayed Out All Night – it started out cute and quirky and ended up as something that made neither logical nor emotional sense.
PRETTIEST DRAMA: Chuno – have you seen that cinematography? It’s glorious. Every shot is like a painting. Runner up: Secret Garden. Ditto.
BEST NON-ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP: Foursome, Gloria – I love the friendship between Kang Suk, Jin Jin, Dong Ah and Yoon Seo – they are so funny and warm and real together. This is the first time KS and YS have had friends and this is the first time JJ and DA had this much fun. They support each other, tease each other and are just wonderful.
DRAMA THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONGER: Pick the Stars – I loved the 20 ep version but after seeing this writer’s 50 ep wonder Gloria, I wish this was longer so we’d get in deeper and spend more time with Pal Kang, Kang Ha and the brood.
DRAMA THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHORTER: Giant – the extension really killed the momentum and the second half was much inferior to the first; Runner-up: Dong Yi – would have been a much better drama at 30 eps
BEST FIRST EPISODE: Chuno – I find first episodes crucial – a bad one can make me drop the drama and a good one can make me its slave. Chuno did the latter. I was breathless and desperate by the end.
WORST FIRST EPISODE: Daddy’s Girl – what an incoherent mess – introducing about a million new characters, murky story, and utter lack of narrative drive, this one was so bad it made me drop it and not come back.
MOST SURPRISING ENDING: Bad Guy – just because by then it ceased to make any sense and nothing was developed.
MOST MISSED: Bae Yong Joon – come back to dramas, darling Damduk!
LEAST MISSED: Gu Hye Sun – her The Musical was supposed to come out but seems in limbo. Since I think she’s a horrible overactress, I am glad.
BEST DRAMA OPENING SCENE: Will It Snow At Christmas – it dragged me in into its pale-colored, emotional world – the truck, the alienated boy, the angry girl.
BEST FIGHT SCENE: Tae Ha and Dae Gil, ep 3, Chuno – the fluid, fast, brutal fight in the reeds – the first time the two men meet and measure each other.
MOST ANTICIPATED 2010 DRAMA: The Duo – Chun Jung Myung in a period drama about a nobleman and slave children switched at birth? I am salivating already. Runner up: Midas – because Jang Hyuk is amazing enough to watch in anything.
If you read this through, you get a medal!
Very personal, you have been warned. I don’t like to claim that my opinion is paramount but I am of course very fond of it. As I am sure you know by now if you read this livejournal with any regularity, I adore period dramas, not too fond of fluffy dramas etc. Any drama that aired even part of its run in 2010 is eligible.
FAVORITE DRAMA: Chuno/Slave Hunters. In a year which had a number of kdramas I liked, Chuno stands head-and-shoulders over its competitors – brutal, gritty, and grim, this is the first period drama I’ve seen which actually gets down in the dirt with societal outcasts (slaves, courtesans, slave hunters) instead of drooling over royalty. Gorgeously shot, fiercely acted, emotionally hypnotic, and with many things to say about society and honor and survival and prejudice, this is the one drama from 2010 that entered my All Time Top 10 Kdramas list. If you haven’t seen this 24-episode marvel, what are you waiting for?
ALSO-RANS: Secret Garden, Giant, Pick the Stars, Prosecutor Princess, Will It Snow on Christmas, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Gloria, Baker King
MOST DISAPPOINTING DRAMA: Road N. 1 – I was so excited for a drama about Korean War with A-list cast but this was insanely written and awfully acted. I’ve never seen anything quite this bad.
WORST DRAMA: RN1. See above.
DRAMA WHICH WASTED ITS CAST THE MOST: A Man Called God. You get Song Il Gook, Han Chae Young and the rest and you do something that is badly directed, awfully written, and asks from its actors all the subtlety of a pantomime show. Shame on you!
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE: Jang Hyuk, Chuno. His tormented, intense, coarse, brutal and brutalized Daegil was heart and soul of Chuno. I cried and laughed and longed with him even as I was appalled by him and terrified of him as well. Daegil may not have been my favorite character in the drama (that honor goes to Tae Ha) but he was the most unforgettable and the best acted.
WORST MALE PERFORMANCE: So Ji Sub, RN1. I have always found SJS very uneven (excellent in Misa, dead-eyed and wooden in Bali), but his one-note, over the top yet flat performance in RN1 seems to have come from another actor entirely. In a drama full of awful acting he stands out. Unless he meant to play a hyper tree, in which case, congrats!
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Go Hyun Jung, Daemul. The powerhouse actress delivers yet another wonderful performance as the smart and tough yet human and vulnerable first female President of Korea.
WORST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Kim Haneul, RN1. See what I said about SJS and apply here.
BEST MALE NEWCOMER – Micky Yoochun, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. I was terrified to check out SKKS because we all know how well idols-turned-actors do – I’ve seen the horror that was Heading to the Ground. But Yoochun embodied his role perfectly – I loved him to bits, laughing with and crying with his character. I hope he has many more dramas to come in his pipeline.
Runner Up: Joo Won, Baker King. Playing the most complex and controversial main character in BK, Joo Won with his charisma and chops blew me away. Imagine my shock when I learned this was his very first drama!
BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER –Jung So Min - Bad Guy, Playful Kiss. Playing two very different characters – the spoiled and flawed rich girl in BG and the sweet and dim student in PK, JSM came out of nowhere but she blew me away. She lives and breathes her characters and was the best thing about PK. I hope she has a long and successful career ahead of her.
COOLEST MALE CHARACTER: Song Tae Ha, Chuno. My fate was written a long time ago – since I wrote a love letter to Spartacus (19th century Italian novel version) when I was eight, I have been a goner for the honorable rebel. And oh – how could I not fall madly and irrevocably in love with Song Tae Ha? Formerly an uber-aristocratic general and best friend of the Crown Prince and now wrongly punished government slave, Tae Ha is both larger than life and so very human – he is a man who is intensely honorable and yet who struggles with his very ingrained notions of Confusian rightness. He is unbroken from all the horrors inflicted on him but only barely so – his pride is hanging by shreds even if his conscience is intact. Actually Tae Ha has replaced Damduk of Legend as my favorite kdrama character. This is all the more impressive because while I have always found Oh Ji Ho a good-looking man (I am not blind!), I have always viewed him as pleasant scenery. I don’t know what happened during Chuno but that scenery came alive and blew me away with his fierce yet vulnerable performance.
COOLEST FEMALE CHARACTER: Yoon Hee, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Smart, mistrustful, tough, loyal, amazing. There are not enough cool adjectives to describe Yoon Hee who not only cross-dresses to get into Korea’s institute of higher learning (risking death and dishonor) but is one of the best scholars out there and a woman with nerves of steel.
Runner-up: Lee Ji Ah, Athena. Hardcore, kickass spy played by LJA? Sign me up.
CHARACTER WHO SHOULD HAVE HIS OWN SPIN-OFF – Jae Shin, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Come on – I want to watch him fight the King’s enemies as a palace guard and fall for the cool rebel chick.
CHARACTER WHO SHOULD HAVE HER OWN SPIN-OFF – Chosun, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. A famous courtesan with deadly fighting skills, messed up family history and a potential OTP with the bad guy’s son? Oh hell, I wish I was watching this already.
FAVORITE SECONDARY CHARACTER - Tae Sung (Kim Jae Wook), Bad Guy. The tormented, brittle Tae Sung was THE character in BG for me. KJW quietly but efficiently stole the show from everyone else and every episode I wished more and more he was the protagonist. I wanted to heal him and make everything better even as I wanted to break every bone in his body. I wanted to look away from watching someone’s personal hell and yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Tae Sung is one of my Top 3 male characters this year (others being Tae Ha from Chuno and Sun Joon from SKKS) so he is in excellent company.
Runner-up: the tough, kind, hurt, uncertain, hopeless, amazing Dong Ah, Gloria.
FAVORITE OTP: Song Tae Ha/Un Nyun, Chuno. I never even expected to ship them, yet they became my drama couple of the year. The aristocratic warrior turned slave and a brutalized slavewoman turned aristocratic bride just swept me off my feet. I spent the first two episodes shipping Un Nyun with Daegil, I confess, but then Tae Ha and Un Nyun met and I found myself chanting at the screen “love him, love him, love him.” Luckily for me, she did. They were and are and always will be perfection.
I love them enough to post this shippy MV, even:
Runners-up: Sun Joon/Yoon Hee, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. A smart, unworldly, studious scholar with a spine of steel and a tough, clever, principled young woman who cross-dressed to get into University? And they become best friends? And he believes he is harboring feelings for a man while she agonizes about his sudden coldness? YES PLS.
Also, both OTPs of Gloria. I can’t breathe watching them sometimes.
FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP: Min Woo/Miju, Giant. By the end of this 60 ep drama I was watching solely for them. She is the hero’s tough yet sunny little sister, he is the shades-of-grey, screwed-up, ruthless son of her family’s biggest enemy . Neither knows of the family connection and they fall in love. He gives her confidence and she gives him happiness. He saves her life and she redeems him. They are perfect.
FAVORITE UNCANON OTP: Tae Sung/Jae In, Bad Guy. Oh, how I shipped the fragile rich boy and the wounded golddigger with the heart of gold. The actors had insane chemistry and the pairing made so much sense. But ultimately the maker went insane and it was not to be.
FAVORITE UNEXPECTED OTP: Ma Jun/Yu Kyung, Baker King. Who would have ever thought I’d ship hero’s poor and fierce first love and his rival/unbrother? But they became ‘the’ OTP of Baker King for me – dysfunctional, hot, and somehow right for each other as they could allow the other to see and understand the darkness in them. Their hope and happiness at the end made me sniffly.
MOST ROMANTIC DRAMA: Tie (1) Will It Snow At Christmas – the whole thing is one long cinematic swoon. Tie (2) Secret Garden. Ditto.
FUNNIEST DRAMA: Secret Garden. I laugh out loud with this drama. I rest my case.
CHARACTER YOU'D TAKE HOME TO MOTHER: Kang Suk, Gloria. Smart, (by now) well-adjusted, loyal, awesome. There are no words for how much I love problem-solver Kang Suk. OK, his family is evil and/or insane, but it can’t be helped.
BEST SECONDARY GUY - Jae Shin, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Never clingy or evil or martyr-like, Jae Shin the secret rebel is all around cool. (Did I mention my thing for rebels? I did).
BEST VILLAIN: Chul Woong, Chuno. Tae Ha’s former second-in-command and friend and now ruthless nemesis, Lee Jong Hyuk is mesmerizing in the role as a man who does great evil at the bidding of his demons, trying to prove his superiority to Tae Ha and Tae Ha’s ‘fakeness’ but is ripping his own soul more and more with every action. At once repellent and pitiable monster (with the subtext of being romantically obsessed with Tae Ha), you may hate Chul Woong, but you can’t tear your eyes away.
Runner up: Ji Suk, Gloria. While feeling he’s the wronged martyr here, the man kills and torments and hurts our leads in every way possible. His slimy look is enough to give me hives at his mere appearance by now.
NICEST HERO: Lee Sun Joon, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Principled, smart, genuinely kind, willing to sacrifice himself to save his friend and do what is right, LSJ is just amazing.
ANGSTIEST/MOST TORTURED HERO: Song Tae Ha, Chuno. I don’t even want to go into all the horrific things that happened to him. If I were in his place, I would have either offed myself or, more likely, have been sitting somewhere rocking myself as I went insane. The one scene in all of Chuno I, angst junkie supreme, can’t bear to rewatch involves him, enough said.
BEST ROMANTIC SCENE: Five-way tie, I am afraid: (1) Min Woo and Miju make love after she’s been nursing him from the horrible beating his father gave him, Giant (2) Daegil believes he is seeing Un Nyun again in ep 2, Chuno (3) Tae Ha banaging wounded Un Nyun’s shoulder and holding her hand when she, unconsciously, is seeking his, Chuno; (4) Dong Ah helps Yoon Seo to throw up her liquor and piggybacks her as they whisper they want this to be forever, Gloria (5) Sun Joon confesses his love to Yoon Hee in the marketplace even though he believes she is a man, Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
BEST KISS: Personal Taste - "game over" in ep 10. A wildly uneven drama but when it was on, it was on! Runner-up: Coffee House train kiss – oh, it sizzled.
WORST KISS: Oh My Lady. No chemistry between the leads whatsoever.
MOST UNDERRATED DRAMA: Prosecutor Princess. Funny, romantic, twisty, with great chemistry between the leads. More people needed to see this.
MOST OVERRATED DRAMA: Cinderella Unni. Good first four eps, complete static idiocy for the other 16. Someone needed to put this drama out of its misery yet its ratings kept rising. Don’t even get me started on its sin of getting but then utterly wasting an actor of Chun Jung Myung’ intensity.
BIGGEST PLEASANT SURPRISE: Pick the Stars. I had no expectations at all and thought it would be a boring family drama but what a sweet, funny, romantic delight it turned out to be.
BIGGEST UNPLEASANT SURPRISE: Road N. 1 – I was so excited for a Korean War epic with such cast. Instead it turned out to be the worst kdrama I’ve ever seen – cartoonishly acted and written by a lunatic.
DRAMA WHICH FELL APART THE MOST: Bad Guy – such a perfect gem the first 2/3, then it’s as if the monkeys took over the typing of the script. Still worth checking out though. Runner up: Mary Stayed Out All Night – it started out cute and quirky and ended up as something that made neither logical nor emotional sense.
PRETTIEST DRAMA: Chuno – have you seen that cinematography? It’s glorious. Every shot is like a painting. Runner up: Secret Garden. Ditto.
BEST NON-ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP: Foursome, Gloria – I love the friendship between Kang Suk, Jin Jin, Dong Ah and Yoon Seo – they are so funny and warm and real together. This is the first time KS and YS have had friends and this is the first time JJ and DA had this much fun. They support each other, tease each other and are just wonderful.
DRAMA THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONGER: Pick the Stars – I loved the 20 ep version but after seeing this writer’s 50 ep wonder Gloria, I wish this was longer so we’d get in deeper and spend more time with Pal Kang, Kang Ha and the brood.
DRAMA THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHORTER: Giant – the extension really killed the momentum and the second half was much inferior to the first; Runner-up: Dong Yi – would have been a much better drama at 30 eps
BEST FIRST EPISODE: Chuno – I find first episodes crucial – a bad one can make me drop the drama and a good one can make me its slave. Chuno did the latter. I was breathless and desperate by the end.
WORST FIRST EPISODE: Daddy’s Girl – what an incoherent mess – introducing about a million new characters, murky story, and utter lack of narrative drive, this one was so bad it made me drop it and not come back.
MOST SURPRISING ENDING: Bad Guy – just because by then it ceased to make any sense and nothing was developed.
MOST MISSED: Bae Yong Joon – come back to dramas, darling Damduk!
LEAST MISSED: Gu Hye Sun – her The Musical was supposed to come out but seems in limbo. Since I think she’s a horrible overactress, I am glad.
BEST DRAMA OPENING SCENE: Will It Snow At Christmas – it dragged me in into its pale-colored, emotional world – the truck, the alienated boy, the angry girl.
BEST FIGHT SCENE: Tae Ha and Dae Gil, ep 3, Chuno – the fluid, fast, brutal fight in the reeds – the first time the two men meet and measure each other.
MOST ANTICIPATED 2010 DRAMA: The Duo – Chun Jung Myung in a period drama about a nobleman and slave children switched at birth? I am salivating already. Runner up: Midas – because Jang Hyuk is amazing enough to watch in anything.
If you read this through, you get a medal!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 08:41 pm (UTC)Thank you! I was wary of period dramas too (as I know little Korean history) but ended up being sucked in and now they are my fave genre.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 08:53 pm (UTC)Emma
no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 08:56 pm (UTC)I approve of your list. I really need to watch Baker King, if only to see why it got such insane ratings. I'd only be watching it for the dysfunctional secondary OTP though because the story doesn't appeal to me at all.
And being fortunate enough not to have watched Road n°1, Most Disappointing Drama would be Dong Yi for me. Seriously, I was afraid that the actor's eyes would fall out with all those nasty glares and eye-bulging and that DY's tongue would go on strike refusing to utter "Your Majesty!" for the nth time. And you could have filled 20 episodes with all the flashbacks. Seriously. It got out of control. I'd never seen flashbacks happening mere *seconds* after the scene took place. Even goldfish would have a good enough memory to remember what happened 5 seconds earlier. And a waste of the the actor who was supposed to play the hot ninja (can't remember his name). He barely had any screen time. Enoug about DY. It was a snooze feast I gave up on before the 30th episode IIRC.
So Chuno made it to number one in front of Gloria or Secret Garden then? I don't think there'll be another drama that'll equal it for me. At least not in a looong time. I've never seen such a perfect blend of sheer beauty (when it came cinematgraphy and score) and powerful story. Win-Win. Even the prettiest dramas I've seen don't come close to Chuno's gorgeousness. And you know, your post actually makes me want to re-watch Chuno wearing TH/UN shipper glasses. One year after the facts, I think I've mourned DG/UN enough to start enjoying TH/UN a bit more. That way I'll have the best of both worlds :o)
Okay, now bring on 2011! I want My Princess! I want Midas! I want The Duo! I want What's Up! I want.....good dramas :o)
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:08 pm (UTC)Here's secondary OTP mv to tempt you further (though technically they got more time than main character and his girl so I suppose they are the main otp):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiJ4_L4CkfY
And my fave scene with them:
This year was basically the year of conflicted almost bad-guys for me what with Daegil, Ma Jun, Min Woo from Giant and of course both men from Bad Guy.
I bailed from Dong Yi early, thank God. Not early enough from RN1, sadly.
Yup, Chuno beat both SG and Gloria. For one, it's most beautifully shot of the bunch, and then there is the acting, and the story - it has so many things to say. Despite my TH/UN obsession, I adored DG/UN and would love to watch an alternate drama where they are the endgame. I like to think JH and LDH's Robbers characters are DG/UN reincarnated who finally got their chance.
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:05 pm (UTC)Made me interested to watch quite a lot of the listed dramas, now I only need the time for it. Maybe starting little, with Sungkyunkwan Scandal or something will get me somewhere.
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:10 pm (UTC)I've watched mainly kdramas this year (after some real disappointments with jdramas in the winter) so I crammed in a lot :)
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:06 pm (UTC)Ugh I lost all my Chuno (and other drama files) when my external HD died. I was saving it for some Gloria style marathoning/procrastination lol.
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:11 pm (UTC)Yeah, my hd died too - I had to rdl everything.
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:43 pm (UTC)I really need to watch Chuno as soon as I have the time and peace to do so.
Also, I just finished watching episode 10 of IODG, and I have to say, it's my favourite drama right now. It might not be the most action-ridden drama out there. It's the characters that make it so charming. Like a study of human nature. So many bad things happening and still, there's always hope. :) I'm not sure it would be your thing, though.
And I totally agree on Dong Yi. I never got past episode 30 -.-
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Date: 2011-01-03 09:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-01-03 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 11:56 pm (UTC)(and SKSS and Will it Snow and...)no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 04:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 01:15 am (UTC)Even without having seen Gloria, I couldn't agree more. There was enough potential there to have a second season (if such a thing ever really happened in Korea) or even an American-style comedy-drama series. I would have loved to see Pal-gang take on Kang-ha's selfish mother, for example. And I wanted more time and story lines for the rest of the kids. I kept expecting that Kang-ha would slowly bond and totally win over each of the kids, one by one, but we only really saw that happening with Parang.
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Date: 2011-01-04 04:23 am (UTC)Oh well.
I'd have paid to seen Pal Kang take on Momster :P
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Date: 2011-01-04 01:16 am (UTC)>> COOLEST MALE CHARACTER: Song Tae Ha, Chuno.
>> FAVORITE OTP: Song Tae Ha/Un Nyun, Chuno. … and I found myself chanting at the screen “love him, love him, love him.” Luckily for me, she did.
I just rewatched Chuno for easily the dozenth time over the holidays and loved it (and Song Tae-Ha) yet again -especially the first half- so am totally on board with you here :)
I feel like my year was split into 2 segments: obsessing about Chuno in the first half, and then obsessing about Nagareboshi in the second. Nagareboshi really is simple to its core, but Yutaka and Aya have so much chemistry they can run a power plant. They also have very little dialog, yet say so much non-verbally about their feelings and desires. Watching Kengo and Risa is like watching two minds talk to each other I swear.
>> FAVORITE SECONDARY CHARACTER - Tae Sung (Kim Jae Wook), Bad Guy.
Ditto. LOVE!
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Date: 2011-01-04 04:23 am (UTC)Chuno was just - perfect. All too often dramas you anticipate so much turn out to be crappy but not this.
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Date: 2011-01-04 04:31 am (UTC)I'm with you on Chuno, although I'm in camp Dae Gil, not shipping him but just thinking that Jang Hyuk owned that part, that show and a corner of my drama soul. The scene where Dae Gil makes a full prostration bow to Buddha, complete with profane summary of the first noble truth and trembling of hands - wept like a babe, I did. It's not in my top 10, but my top 10 is crowded with gems like Conspiracy in the Court and 8 Days (Joseon X Files DID crack the top 10 though)
And for war drama, Comrades. Although only if you can stand the breaking of your heart into tiny little pieces that are then stomped on by an army. This came close to matching JXF for me, but JXF was so so beautiful and well done.
There are two 2010 shows that can actually set me into a full out rant. One is Bad Guy, for the way the drama gods conspired to make what was shaping up to be one hell of a show into the psychotic mess it became. And the other is Personal Taste for insulting every fiber of my being.
To the avoid like the plague pile, add Dong Yi. You should not have to suffer through that.
momosan
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Date: 2011-01-05 01:27 am (UTC)I think RN1 scared me off war drama for a while but when that phobia goes away I do want to check out Comrades. I have yet to hear of a single person who didn't like it.
Yes, that scene with the Buddha killed me. And the scene when he threw the knife, and during UN's wedding night, and his weeping in the marketplace and everything - it was one of the best performances I've seen. Is he eligible for Baeksang this year?
I tried the first couple eps of Dong Yi and bailed. I like Han Hyo Joo (Spring Waltz is basically my perfect romance) but she doesn't have the chops to pull off starring in a sageuk. And if I am suffering through 60+,70+,80+ eps, you better give me Go Hyun Jung or Song Il Gook or Lee Seo Jin to get me through.
Bad Guy - I still see spots of rage when I think about it. The first half is basically a masterpiece but by the end a five year old could have done better Not sure if KNG's enlistment had something to do with it or not.
PT took Son Yejin, Lee Min Ho and WJH and wasted them all.
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Date: 2011-01-04 04:40 am (UTC)one medal pls and make it out of raspberry and white chocolates.
Hugz!
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Date: 2011-01-05 01:27 am (UTC)Btw, who is that in your icon, he's gorgeous.
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Date: 2011-01-04 04:51 am (UTC)Oh! I wasn't going to watch this, but now that I hear such good things, I think I will :)
BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER –Jung So Min...She lives and breathes her characters and was the best thing about PK. I hope she has a long and successful career ahead of her.
She blew me away too! Very versatile.
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Date: 2011-01-05 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 05:47 am (UTC)I truly appreciate your appreciation & for recognizing KJW's portrayal of TS! He's so underrated. I hope someday, he will get his own OTP.
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Date: 2011-01-05 01:28 am (UTC)And thank you!
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Date: 2011-01-04 07:03 am (UTC)It may not have been the best ever drama year but it was way fun!
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Date: 2011-01-05 01:28 am (UTC)hairchest mcwolfman
Date: 2011-01-04 10:44 am (UTC)and then i found dramabeans, where i went for months for recs, until i realized that roughly nine times out of ten, javabeans' opinions meshed about as well with mine as orange juice does with toothpaste.
and then i found youuuuuu, lady-luuub, via your gush-tastic bidam-likes-it-when-deokman-destroys-people-with-her-BRAIN post (which i don't think i'll ever forget), and have only bothered to go back to dramabeans for the occasional spoilery synopsis (secret garden, anyone?) ever since.
anyway.
i much-like your award winners, drama and actors alike.
chuno tops my list as well --and most everyone else's, it seems-- and jang hyuk is just. so. LICKABLE. even when he's elbow-deep in ANGST. maybe *especially* when he's elbow-deep in angst.
i found myself nodding my way down the rest of your inventory, as well: secret garden is a comedic, UST-tastic gem, Creepy McF*ckface is oh-so-stabfully CREEPY, jae shin should never wear a shirt (i mean, should definitely get his own series --wherein he eschews clothing), RN1 made me gag (as i'd watched 'who are you?' only recently before i started it, and fallen hopelessly in luff with yoon kye sang --WASTE), mishil continues to be my lesbian lady-crush, even in her new pres-threads, ma jun/yu kyung made me unexpectedly weak in the kneesie-beesies, and on and on and on...
except for the bits about prosecutor princess. i didn't make it past episode five (heroine made me want to tear off my face), but you and dramabeans *both* seem to hold it in high esteem, so...i'm considering toughing out a few more episodes to see if perhaps it redeems itself. (i *want* to love it, i DO, mostly because of HAN JUNG SOOOOOOOO!) i'm desperate for distraction until new gloria eps are subbed (which, btw, is KILLING MY THUMPY-THINGY), and i suppose it couldn't hurt to give it another go.
*ahem*
anyway.
dunno what i'd do without your lovely-lovely blog, or your gawjus-sexy brain.
thanks for a fan-girly-squee-licious '10.
be seeing youuuuuuuuuuuu~
Re: hairchest mcwolfman
Date: 2011-01-05 01:36 am (UTC)Yes, dramabeans is a good site but her recs and reviews are pretty much useless for me too as we have polar opposite tastes.
Re: Prosecutor Princess. If 5 eps didn't grab you, I suggest just giving it up. I liked the heroine but she is not my usual type. She does shape up into an efficient prosecutor though. And, of course, I am a huge Park Shi Hoo fangirl
Who Are You is so very perfect. So underrated. If you love YKS and don't mind massive emo melodrama, how about Crazy For You?
Jang Hyuk = probably my fave kdrama actor as of now.
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Date: 2011-01-05 11:34 am (UTC)OH HOW I LOVED YOUR REVIEW, HON! Chuno also pwned me this year... the only drama that broke my Bidam curse. ^____^ Jang Hyuk gave a stellarific performance... that bawling-while-eating-a-harboiled-egg scene just shattered my heart. :) I also love Chul Woong... i don't know but he's my favorite villain for this year. He's just brutal and then he just stopped so abruptly in the end... others may have thought WTF but I thought that's SO rad. :)
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Date: 2011-01-06 01:50 am (UTC)And mmmmmmmmmm, Bidam.
Re: Chul Woong. Agreed. I loved how he just stopped - he was ambivalent at the start and he finally went back to his hidden decency.
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Date: 2011-01-06 01:35 pm (UTC)But then again, I haven't really seen any episodes of BOF so I have no idea how much her acting regressed.
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Date: 2011-01-07 01:51 am (UTC)I want to check out Pure 19 one of these days....
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Date: 2011-01-09 04:45 am (UTC)Awesome review, you have here! Can I get a (chocolate) medal too? :)
*high five* on everything SKKS and also the Duo as most anticipated 2011 drama
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Date: 2011-01-09 04:55 am (UTC)I am so anxious for The Duo, I can almost taste it.
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Date: 2011-01-17 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-17 04:36 am (UTC)This said, I do mean to check out Comrades.